NEWS
New Edition of Making Sense of It All
We are delighted to present the new edition of our highly popular parent-carer guide, Making Sense of It All. Written and edited by parent-carers and often referred to as the "parent-carer bible", the book is a must have for SEND families in West Sussex. Our latest edition covers all the main subjects parent-carers encounter on their SEND journey - like diagnosis, survival strategies, money maters, getting help from education, health and social care and transition to adult life - as well as updates on developments in local services. It also contains a directory of over 400 local and national organisations and an extensive jargon buster. You can order a copy via our Guide page or collect one in person from your nearest Umbrellas support group.
NDP Navigation Service
Future of our NDP Navigation Service assured thanks to funding from NHS Sussex.
2023-24 Impact Report
We are thrilled to present our year in numbers for 2023/24 which gives an overview of our delivery and impact during the year. A more detailed account of the year can be found in our 2023/24 Impact Report, available on our Impact page.
Benefits Advice Service
We are delighted that Reaching Families' Benefits Advice Service restarted on the 10th June.
Thanks to almost £90,000 in funding from The National Lottery Community Fund we have been able to appoint a new benefits advisor and support worker to advise parent-carers on applications for Carers Allowance, DLA and PIP and undertake claim checks in advance of submitting. A benefits team administrator will also be joining us in June.
Parents can self refer to the service and book appointments via our Benefits Advice page.
As always, we would advise parents to book their appointments well in advance of submission deadlines as we are expecting demand for the service to be very high. Statutory and voluntary agencies can also refer parent-carers to the service via benefits@reachingfamilies.org.uk.
Animation on Reaching Families
We are delighted to present our latest animation, a short two minute film giving an overview of our one stop shop of services and the many ways we can support families of children with additional needs. Take a look on our animations page and see how we can support you.